Devin Cifers, Drew Tingen, Steven Walters
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Cell Phones, the End of the Beginning
Cell phones are all around us. They are based on the two-way radio. Being extremely limited on
available frequencies, companies implemented the cell, thus providing the name. Cell phones
are not perfect devices, so accordingly cell phones continue to acquire more and more
capabilities and advancements. Most of these improvements are not even thought of at the
present moment, while some improvements are being developed to make cell phones have every
electronic capability. Cell phones can now repel mosquitoes, send text messages, capture
images, and even perform simple calculations. This is the end of the beginning of cell phones
and their usage and development.
Cell phones are a miracle of modern technology to many. People around the globe use
cellular phones to call others around the world. We have all seen cell phones and many of us use
them daily, but why are they so useful and most importantly how do they work. These are the
questions that many people leave unasked and unanswered even though they are why we have
such great conveniences as the cell phone and other recent innovations. The concept for cellular
communication is not a difficult one to understand, just extremely complex on the large scale,
which the world uses today. Cell phone technology is rapidly advancing as new features, such as
gaming, web browsing, and text messaging are added to each new phone. There are
improvements and extras to cell phones still in development that will make them even more
useful.
Well, what is a cell phone exactly and why are they so popular? These questions are
much more common than you might think. Many people believe that a technology that is as
widely used as the cell phone must be extremely complex and incredibly hard to decipher.
Actually the concept behind cell phones is really quite simple. Have you ever used a two way
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radio? That is exactly what a cell phone is, an enhanced two way radio. Cities, states, and
countries are divided into hexagonal cells, and each cell has its own tower. The cell phone,
which has a low power radio transmitter, only communicates with the nearest tower, the one in
its current cell (Brain). The tower then communicates with a central office for the telephone
company. The company then finds the other phone and connects you to them, whether it is
another cell phone or a regular house phone. So it’s just like talking over a two way radio with
someone a few hundred yards away, only cell phones can talk hundreds of miles away.
Similarly, to talk internationally or overseas the cell phone communicates with the tower witch
communicates with the base station of the telephone company, then the company sends the
signal via satellite overseas to the other telephone companies and their respective cell towers.
It can’t be that easy, many would say. The concept is simple, but the actual workings of
a call are much more complex. Cell phones can’t just talk to any tower anywhere at any time
and expect to be able to receive calls. Each cell phone, when turned on, looks for identification
number from the towers called the System Identification Code or SID. The SID is a unique five
digit code given to each carrier by the FCC (Brain). If the cell phone is unable to find its carriers
SID then it is out of range of any active tower for that carrier and shows some type of no service
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or no signal message (Brain). Once the phone identifies its carriers SID it can communicate with
the carrier and make and receive calls. Of course the tower must also be able to identify the cell
phone who it is talking to at that time. In order to do this there are several forms of identification
which a cell phone possesses, one of which is the number of the phone. Actually, the carrier
does not identify the cell by its number, but by its MIN, or Mobile Identification Number, which
is a 10-digit number derived from the cell phone call number (Brain). Using this number the
base station can identify the cell phone on the network and find the cell phone it is attempting to
call and connect them. As long as the cell tower can talk to and identify the cell phone, it is able
to make calls and receive calls, but what happens as you are driving and leave the area of your
current tower? As the cell phone moves further away from the tower in its current cell the signal
begins to dissipate because it only has a low level transmitter, using signal strengths of either .6
watts or 3 watts (Brain). The base station for that cell notes that your signal is decreasing and
switches you over to the next cell when your signal reaches a certain level. From that point you
are communicating with that tower in the next cell until you reach the edge of that cell. Each cell
is approximately 26 square kilometers in area (Brain). If you run out of every cell in a carriers
system in that area then the cell phone loses its entire signal and cannot receive or make calls, all
calls are diverted to a possible messaging service.
Cell phones only have low level transmitters; some would ask why companies don’t just
equip their phones with high level transmitters so they would need as many cells. There is a good
reason for that. The FCC assigns cell companies certain frequencies in which their phones can
operate; they must operate within the range which they are assigned. However, no two phones
can use the same frequencies in the same cell simultaneously for two different calls. Normally a
carrier is given only 823 frequencies per city. Each cell phone uses two different frequencies per
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call so there are only about 400 voice channels per cell per carrier (Brain). If the company
breaks down the cells into smaller cells and use low power transmitters they can reuse the
different frequencies for more phones in every other cell. Doing this, the carrier can
accommodate more people over a much wider area at the same time; it’s better for business and
it makes more people have the ability to use cell phones.
Cell phones of today can do so much more than just let people talk to one another. Now
they are becoming ways for people to pass the time and communicate in other ways than vocal
signals. You can browse the internet and send email, text message other cell phones and even
calculate tip for a dinner out you just had with that special someone. It’s amazing the things that
cell phones can do now, but this is only the beginning of the development of the cell phone. One
recent development in cell phone technology even allows you to download a piece of software
that transmits a frequency which repels mosquitoes up to a meter away, which doesn’t seem like
much, but it keeps them from biting (Deok-hyun). There are many things cell phones could
possibly be used for that are still to be developed, some things haven’t even been thought of yet.
For example, one new innovation that could be developed for the cell phone could be a special
phone made for disabled people. The phone could be connected to their entire house and be used
as a remote control to open cabinets, cook dinner, and answer the door. This phone would be a
great convenience and would help decrease the amount of human attention or nursing a person
might need after having surgery. Another tool which cell phones might be able to use would be
a tracking device. If each person in a household had a cell phone that could emit a certain signal
that the other phones could recognize people would be able to find their family members if they
were within range. This would be useful in places like the mall; if someone was separated from
a group the group could track them down just by turning on a cell phone. Cell phones have been
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tested and it has been proven that cell phones emit low level electromagnetic radiation which
over a period of time could cause cancer. Because of this fact the FDA has begun to regulate cell
phones and the amount of radiation which cell phones can emit (“Cell Phone Facts: Consumer
Information of Wireless Phones”). What if someone could develop an electromagnetic shield
that would cancel the radiation generated by the cell phone which in turn reduces the health risk?
Wouldn’t that be useful?
Cell phones are really amazing tools. They have brought telecommunication to an
entirely new level which people would never have dreamed of 10 or 15 year ago. Now instead
of just talking to one another from hundreds to thousands of miles away people can send text
messages, check email, play games, and even repel bugs with software. This is only the end of
the beginning in a sense. Cell phones have only truly become popular in the past couple of years
and most people still don’t have one of their own, but with technology rapidly developing cell
phones are sure to become even more popular than they are now. And with the popularity rising,
the demand for even more new features will certainly appear. Cell phones are a tool that will
change the way we live, without question.